The Persistence of Renegade X

by Chelsea M. Campbell

  But we don’t stop, and they don’t actually come after us. Or, at least, if they do, I’m too busy running to notice.

  Chapter 5

  WE RUN FOR A few more blocks, just to be safe, before heading back to the car. Well, circling back to it, because there’s no way we’re going back the way we came, just in case those superheroes are still around and decide they want to bring me in for questioning or something.

  As if me zapping that guy didn’t totally help them out. Even if it might also be sort of frowned upon.

  I shift Jess’s weight onto my other hip. I feel tired and sweaty all over, and judging from the looks on everyone else’s faces, they feel the same way.

  “Are you okay?” I ask Kat.

  “Yeah. It only hurt for a second.” She holds out her hand, inspecting it. It looks normal. “But, Damien, I think I’m going to have to demand half of your babysitting money. You know, for hazard pay.”

  “That’s three dollars. You can put it on my tab. Or maybe I can, you know, ‘work it off’ later.” I grin at her.

  She rolls her eyes at me. “I’m not paying you for something you’d do for free.”

  Sarah clears her throat. “Thanks,” she says to Kat. “I could have been—”

  “Don’t mention it,” Kat mutters.

  “But—”

  “We’re a team, aren’t we?”

  Sarah takes a deep breath, then nods.

  “You didn’t ask if I’m okay,” Xavier screeches.

  Everyone collectively winces at his voice, even Jess, who stirs in my arms and mumbles, “Bad voice, no.”

  “I almost got hurt!” Xavier goes on.

  “No,” I tell him, “you almost got killed. There’s a slight difference.”

  His eyes go wide. He sucks in a long breath, then shrieks, “I need to call Mommy! I need to call her now!”

  “She’s busy,” I tell him. “And you’re fine.”

  “I told you you couldn’t watch both of us!” He points to Alex, as if he’s the reason any of this happened.

  Alex glares at him, then gives me kind of a strange look. “You really zapped that guy.”

  I can’t tell if he sounds awed by that or more like worried. Maybe both. “Yeah, but he’s fine.” And we wouldn’t have been if those superheroes had kept chasing us. “Well, he’s probably going to jail, but that’s on him.” Or to be tortured, if those heroes were from the League, but they didn’t look like it. The badges on their uniforms definitely weren’t the League’s logo. Probably some independent group or something. “I only did it because I had to. So—”

  “It was really cool! I mean,” Alex goes on, “I only kind of saw it out of the corner of my eye, but it seemed really cool.”

  “You didn’t see it because it never happened. None of this did. Got it?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

  He blinks at first, then deflates a little as understanding washes over him. “But—”

  “I didn’t zap anybody, because we weren’t being chased by heroes, and you definitely didn’t get out of the car and follow us into some random alley, because none of us were ever here. I left Kat in charge while I went to pick up Xavier, and then I came straight back, and all you guys did was watch a movie.” I pause, considering that. “The animated one, not the horror one.”

  Alex scuffs his shoe against the sidewalk. “Aw, can’t I at least tell everyone at school?!”

  “No way. Because people at school have older siblings who might know Amelia, and then it’ll get back to her.” And that would be even worse than Gordon and Helen finding out. I mean, they’ll just never trust me again. Amelia will think she’s better than me, and I’m not sure I can live with that.

  We make it back to the car, and I fish around in my pocket for my keys.

  “Do you think we could get a ride home?” Sarah asks. “I know it’s going to be a tight fit, but it’s getting dark, and this is kind of a bad neighborhood.”

  “Whose fault is that?” I ask her.

  “I wanted our drill to be authentic.”

  My keys must be in my other pocket. I move Jess to my other side for better pocket access, but… there’s nothing there, either. I hand her over to Kat, then shove both my hands in my pockets, sure that I just missed my keys somehow. Even though I can’t feel their weight or anything.

  Probably because they’re not there.

  Crap.

  Sweat prickles against the back of my neck at the same time as little flickers of electricity run up my spine.

  “Is something wrong, X?” Riley asks.

  “I can’t find my keys.” I peer in the window of the car, but I don’t see them inside.

  “You had them when we left,” Kat says. Then, “Didn’t you?”

  “I think so. But, you know, I also thought my friends were in danger and about to be discovered by bad guys who might try to murder them, so I wasn’t super concerned with where my keys were.”

  Sarah scoffs. “The point is that we could have been in danger. We could have really needed you. And it turns out your punctuality could really use some work, which isn’t that big of a surprise, so all in all, it’s a good thing we’re doing these drills.”

  Lightning zaps along my arms. “What’s that, Sarah? You’re really, really sorry you lied and almost got all of us killed, and you just happen to have brought a key-finding device that miraculously doesn’t blow up when you try to use it?”

  She folds her arms and scowls at me. “My metal detector’s at home. And it just makes a weird clunking noise. It doesn’t blow up.”

  “Yet.” I hold out my hand to Alex. “Phone.”

  “Um.” He glances at the car. “I didn’t bring it.”

  “So, let me get this straight. Not only did you leave the car when I told you not to, and not only did you wander into an alley where you thought there was serious fighting going on, but you left the phone in the car?!”

  His eyes dart back and forth between me and Kat. “I didn’t know I was supposed to bring it.”

  “Here,” Kat says, fishing her phone out of her pocket. She starts to hand it to me, then pulls back when she sees sparks flickering on my arms. “Actually, you know what? Maybe I’ll just hold onto it.” Still, she turns on the flashlight app and shines it on the ground.

  Riley and Sarah get out their phones, too. We check under the car and on the street nearby, but they’re not there.

  I glance over at the alley, wondering when I dropped them. Was it when we were talking to Sarah and Riley, or was it when we were running for our lives? In which case, they could be anywhere.

  “Maybe I can do something.” Kat starts to hand Jess back to me, then hesitates, like she did with her phone.

  “I’m fine,” I tell her, even as a couple sparks light up my fingertips. “Well, mostly.” I’m just under kind of a lot of stress at the moment, which I think is understandable, given the circumstances.

  Sarah holds her arms out for Jess, but Kat ignores her and shoves Jess at Riley instead, who seems kind of surprised to suddenly be holding a three-year-old.

  Then Kat gets to work on the car. She shapeshifts her fingers into lockpicks and messes with the passenger door for a while until there’s a clicking sound.

  A feel a huge wave of relief. “Have I ever told you how awesome you are?”

  “Once or twice.” She grins. Then she climbs into the driver’s seat and sticks her finger into the ignition.

  Which kind of creeps me out to watch, and I sort of wish I hadn’t been looking, but whatever. Kat’s going to start the car, we’re going to somehow all pile into it, and nobody’s ever going to know this happened. All I have to do is wait until Amelia gets home and tell her I can’t find my keys. Then she’ll use her stupid teleporting power to call them up, and everything will be fine. I mean, she’ll probably try and lord it over me that she’s doing me a favor and that I owe her, and me and Kat will probably have to watch the recording of her dance recital with her or something, but that’s a small
price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

  Kat grimaces as she pokes at the ignition, like whatever’s going on is uncomfortable and isn’t actually working. “I can’t make it turn,” she says.

  “What do you mean, you can’t make it turn?”

  “I mean, I can’t make it turn. It’s stuck.” She gives up, pulling her hand away from the ignition. I watch as her flattened, key-shaped finger morphs back into normal shape and feel kind of sick.

  “That happens sometimes,” I tell her. “You just have to jiggle it.”

  “I did. As much as I could, anyway.” She holds up her finger. “I don’t know if you know this, but I’m not made out of metal. And stuff that happens to me when I’m shapeshifted still hurts. We need the key.”

  I sigh. Then I unlock the back door and grab my phone from where Alex left it on the seat.

  “Are you calling your dad?” Riley asks, almost mouthing the words, like he’s afraid the Crimson Flash is going to forever associate him with all of this and always look down on him.

  Not that I’d make him and Sarah stay for that—not unless they’re really desperate for that ride—but I know they wouldn’t abandon us, either. “I’m looking up the recital hall,” I tell him. “The one where Amelia’s performing tonight. It’s downtown, not that far from here.” Though it’s at least in a better neighborhood.

  “We’re going to find Mom and Dad?” Alex asks, sounding both hopeful and wary, like he’d really like this whole ordeal to be over with, but… maybe not in a way that ends with us all getting in trouble.

  “No way in hell. We’re going to the recital hall, but Gordon and Helen are never going to know we were there. Neither is Amelia.”

  Kat raises a really skeptical eyebrow at me. “What does that mean?”

  “It means,” I tell her, slipping my phone into my pocket now that I know where we’re going, “forty minutes from now, we’re all going to be back home, watching a movie, and nobody’s ever going to know any of this happened.” Well, except for the fact that Xavier will still be there and I’ll have to explain that, but it hardly compares to dragging everyone to a bad part of town and almost getting them all killed.

  Chapter 6

  THE RECITAL HALL ISN’T that far from where we’re parked—though it sure seems like it, what with us having to carry Jess and practically having to drag Alex and Xavier—and the recital is well underway, and it’s not like there’s anyone guarding the doors. I mean, it’s a public building. We’re allowed to wander in here. Getting into the auditorium where the recital is actually taking place might be another story, but we don’t need to. In fact, the auditorium doors being shut with a sign on them that says, “NO ENTRANCE—SHOW IN PROGRESS,” is kind of reassuring, because it means Gordon and Helen are safely on the other side and not going to, like, notice us or anything.

  I feel a wave of relief. We made it. All seven of us are accounted for. And despite being tired and cranky and kind of sweaty from running around all night, everybody’s okay. I can almost pretend this is a fun adventure instead of a stressful nightmare.

  “Alright,” I tell them, “we’ll just rest here for a second, and then—”

  “Excuse me!” A woman with round glasses and an unruly bun that’s coming apart marches over to us. “What are you doing here? Are you supposed to be here?” She looks tired and stressed, so I figure she must have something to do with organizing the recital. That and she’s holding a clipboard and wearing a headset.

  Kat freezes.

  Riley gapes at the woman, then at me.

  Sarah adjusts her glasses and doesn’t say anything.

  Alex stands behind me, and Jess—who I swear feels twice as heavy as she did when the night started, or maybe that’s just my arms giving out—purses her lips in thought as she studies the woman, then gives her a look of dismissal.

  I clear my throat. “We’re—”

  “I’m allowed to be here!” Xavier screeches, cutting me off. “I’m Mommy’s little sweetiekins, and I can go anywhere I want!”

  The woman cringes.

  I glare at Xavier, then flash a charming smile at the woman. Or at least that’s my goal. I’m not sure I actually pull it off, what with being kind of drained and just really ready for all of this to be over. “Our friends are in the recital.” I gesture to Riley and Sarah, who are dressed in their superhero costumes.

  Sarah’s is blue and black with a silver theta across her chest, and Riley’s is teal and black with a silver phi, and they obviously match. They’re either in the same superhero group together or on the same dance team.

  Riley glances down at himself, then up at the woman. He moves closer to Sarah in silent acknowledgment, though he doesn’t actually say anything.

  “The show’s almost over,” the woman says, sounding concerned. She tugs on a lock of her hair that’s come loose from her bun.

  “We had car trouble,” Sarah says.

  “I thought all the groups were accounted for. I thought…” She scans her clipboard, then looks them over, taking in their costumes again. “I don’t have you on the schedule. You’ll have to go on last. And you need to hurry backstage.” She gives Riley and Sarah quick directions on where to go, then gets a call on her headset and has to hurry off.

  “I can’t believe that worked,” Riley says.

  “They probably don’t get a lot of people trying to impersonate dancers,” Sarah says. “Or sneak into recitals.”

  “See?” I say to no one in particular. “I have everything under control.”

  Right as the door to the men’s bathroom opens and Gordon steps out.

  The bathroom’s down the hall a little ways, but not far enough. All of us notice him. He’s busy looking at his phone, so he hasn’t spotted us—yet. I exchange a wide-eyed look of terror with Kat, and then all seven of us—well, six of us, since Xavier has no idea who Gordon is—duck around the corner, just as Jess exclaims, “Daddy!”

  I clamp my hand over her mouth, and Kat stretches out her arm and grabs Xavier, pulling him back into the group.

  “Hide,” I whisper.

  Riley turns invisible, and Kat shapeshifts to look like a potted plant, but the rest of us don’t have it so easy.

  There’s a door to our left. I have no idea where it goes, but when I try the handle, it’s locked. I don’t have time to melt it with my lightning, and blasting it open might be kind of noticeable. I try the door across the hall. It sticks, but just for a second, and then it clicks open.

  I sigh with relief just as Jess shouts, “Daddy! Come here!”

  “Shh,” I hiss, putting my hand over her mouth again. I jerk my head toward the open door, indicating the others should follow me, and we all pile into what turns out to be a tiny janitor’s closet that smells strongly of floor cleaner and has room for maybe two people, not five.

  Xavier elbows Alex, making him almost fall into a mop bucket. Sarah shuts the door and holds her breath.

  Jess starts to cry.

  “It’s okay, Jess,” I whisper, pressing her face against my shoulder to try and muffle the sound.

  “Who was that?” Xavier screeches, at totally normal volume.

  “Quiet,” I tell him, sounding completely exasperated, because I think it’s pretty obvious we’re trying to hide here.

  “I am,” he whines, though slightly quieter this time. “Who was he?”

  “My dad,” I tell him. I pat Jess’s back in an attempt to soothe her, but it’s not really working. My phone chimes.

  “No, he wasn’t.”

  “Yes,” Alex snaps, “he was.”

  “But you’re my brother,” Xavier says, getting louder again. “That means—”

  “Half brother,” I correct him, sliding my phone out of my pocket. The text is from Gordon. “We have the same mom, but that’s it.”

  “But… but…”

  “Why do you think I don’t live with you guys?”

  “Because Mommy loves me more and there wasn’t room for b
oth of us.”

  Electricity sparks beneath my skin and I clench my jaw, even though it’s not like that’s news to me. Well, news that he thinks that, anyway. It’s not even remotely what happened.

  I take a deep breath, trying to ignore both Xavier and the tiny sparks flickering on my arms that are totally visible in this dark closet, and open Gordon’s text on my phone, dreading what it might say. I tell myself if he’d seen us, he wouldn’t be texting, he’d be—

  A knock at the door almost gives me a heart attack.

  There’s a split second where I’m sure it’s Gordon, and then I hear Riley’s voice say, “He’s gone. You guys can come out now.”

  “So,” Kat says as we head to the backstage area, “what are you going to do? Beg Amelia for help?”

  She’s carrying Jess now, because even though I’ve got my electricity under control, my arms are still tired and it’s her turn. I cluck my tongue. “You know me better than that. I’m going to steal her keys.”

  I glance at the text on my phone from Gordon. It says, Everything going alright?

  And if I was going to come clean about how disastrous tonight has been, this would probably be the time. But that’s not going to happen, so instead I write back, Everything’s fine. Stop worrying.

  Sarah frowns. “Won’t there be a bunch of people back there?”

  If the number of groups listed on that lady’s clipboard earlier was anything to go by, then yes. “That’s why this is going to be a group effort,” I say, looking over at Riley.

  His eyebrows shoot up. “What?”

  “You heard me, Perkins. If you want that ride home, you’re going to have to start pulling your weight.”

  “You want me to steal from your sister?!”

  “No, I want you to borrow from her. It’s completely different.”

  “It’s still taking something without her permission.”

  “Would it help if you thought of her as Zach’s ex?”

  He scowls at me. “X, seriously. You can’t expect me to do that.”

  “She’ll never even know they’re gone.” We make it to the door to the backstage area. I tilt my head toward it and gesture for Riley to get moving.